Numbering of Fullerenes (IUPAC Recommendations 2004)

Rules for numbering (C₆₀-I _h)[5,6]fullerene and (C₇₀-D _5h(6))[5,6]fullerene were codified in a publication “Nomenclature for the (C₆₀-I _h)[5,6] and (C₇₀-D _5h(6))[5,6]fullerenes” published in Pure Appl. Chem. 74 (4), 629–695 (2002). The current publication contains recommendations for numbering a wide variety of fullerenes of different sizes, with rings of different sizes, from C₂₀ to C₁₂₀, and of various point group symmetries, including low symmetries such as C _s, C _i, and C ₁, as well as many fullerenes that have been isolated and well characterized as pristine carbon allotropes or as derivatives. These recommendations are based on the principles established in the earlier publication and aim at the identification of a well-defined and preferably contiguous helical pathway for numbering. Rules for systematically completing the numbering of fullerene structures for which a contiguous numbering pathway becomes discontiguous are presented.